


An Axe to Grind

by ClothesBeam



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27652976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: Akechi apologises to Haru. She has her own way of trying to make sure history won’t repeat itself.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Okumura Haru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	An Axe to Grind

Haru had been playing with, no, helping Morgana _train_ when she’d received the call. The bright ringtone made them both jump, and then they laughed a little.

“Excuse me for one moment Mona-chan,” she said before picking up.

Morgana sat back and began cleaning his face, oddly dignified given he’d been running after a piece of string for the past hour. Still, she didn’t mind seeing him when Akira needed some alone time with one or more of the other ex-Thieves.

“Hello?” Haru answered softly.

“Good afternoon Okumura-sama, this is building security. There is a gentleman in the lobby requesting to be let up to your residence,” he reported smoothly.

Haru frowned, her fingers automatically going to the tips of her hair in a nervous gesture. It had better not be her ex. She glanced toward the balcony she knew her axe was resting on.

“May I have the name?”

“An Akechi Goro, Miss.”

Morgana immediately sat up straight and stared at her with wide eyes. “What!?” he yowled.

They had learnt he’d survived shortly after Akira had been released from jail, but none of them had heard from him in almost a year now. After everything, she didn’t particularly want to be stuck with him in a confined space more or less alone.

But then, if he was trying to make things right, she couldn’t bring herself to outright ignore him either.

“I will be right down,” she replied as she stood up and grabbed her purse before moving to the door.

“Very well,” the security guard replied before ending their call. Haru slid her shoes on and held the door open for Morgana before heading over to the elevator.

“Is it really him?” Morgana demanded as they waited for the lift to take them from the top floor to the lobby. “Why would he come here, of all places, after everything?”

“I would hope it’s to try and make amends, but I don’t want to speculate,” Haru admitted. Akechi was hardly the most stable person she knew, and she couldn’t safely ignore that fact.

When the elevator doors finally opened, she spotted him almost immediately. He was sitting on one of the lobby lounges in a quiet corner, looking strangely normal in the argyle patterned sweater vest she was sure she’d seen him in before. He was holding a potted plant, and when Haru saw it was a purple hyacinth, some of her worry vanished.

He hurried to his feet when he saw her. His expression was unreadable, but she could see his fingers were tense against the plastic pot.

“Good afternoon, Akechi-kun,” Haru greeted neutrally when she was close enough to be heard.

“Please pardon the intrusion,” he replied formally, seemingly unable to meet her eye.

There was a moment of silence where she might have invited her guest up, but surely he wasn’t expecting her to do so after everything. He bowed his head and seemed to inhale deeply. His eyes flickered around the mostly empty lobby for a moment before he slowly stepped forward and held out his gift.

Haru nodded as she accepted it. If he was here to apologise for what he’d done, then they could work through that. She pressed her fingers to the soil out of habit, but immediately glanced up when he took a couple of steps back again.

Akechi dropped to his knees and braced his hands on the ground before bending forward and touching his forehead to the ground. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but please know that I truly am sorry for what I did to you and your family.”

Haru was stunned that he would publically debase himself like this for her sake. She tried to speak, but of course being reminded of what had happened to her father was making her throat constrict. She held the plant in the crook of one arm so she could wipe her tears away.

When she gasped between sobs, he didn’t so much as glance up. Morgana wove between her legs, trying to provide some sort of comfort.

Perhaps Akechi had the right idea after all. It was probably better to deal with this in private.

Haru stepped forward. She noticed his fingertips press into the ground a little more firmly, but otherwise he didn’t move. “Come with me,” she said softly.

Akechi finally glanced up. When she made a beckoning motion and started moving toward the elevator, he quickly got to his feet and followed.

With the way neither of them wanted to meet the other’s eyes, the ride back up was extremely awkward. But eventually they emerged into the corridor that led to her apartment. Akechi kept his distance while she unlocked her front door.

She glanced up when he didn’t immediately follow her inside. “Come in,” she invited softly.

Akechi walked past her and removed his shoes. Morgana watched him with narrowed eyes. Haru gave him a meaningful look, but the cat ignored her in favour of continuing to tail him. Akechi glanced down at him and raised a brow.

“What’s wrong, Morgana? You’ve been strangely quiet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Morgana protested.

Haru found herself smiling a little. It was nice to know there was still someone in there below the layers of sombreness. “Coffee?”

Akechi seemed alarmed by the idea. “I didn’t come here to impose or take anything else from you,” he replied quietly.

Haru tilted her head with a small frown on her face. “Hmm… I’d say this is a little different, since I didn’t exactly offer you my father’s life.”

She’d be lying if she said she didn’t get some kind of pleasure from watching him squirm at her bluntness. But dancing around the issue wasn’t going to help resolve it.

“I suppose,” he eventually answered, hesitant.

Haru walked past him to the balcony, then beckoned him over. He looked a little bewildered by her change in tack, but it seemed he was willing to go along with whatever she wanted at the moment. She didn’t miss the way his eyes jumped to the axe that was sitting in the corner of her large balcony.

Morgana had his head tilted in what was likely confusion as he watched them from the doorway. Haru gave him a pleasant smile before walking over to the woodheap and picking up her axe. He knew he should stay back when she did this, so she shouldn’t have to worry about his safety.

“Have you ever cut wood before, Akechi-kun?” Haru asked as she eyed up the piece she’d left on the stump that was her current cutting block.

“No?” he replied, still hesitant. She supposed she couldn’t blame him.

“You should try it some time,” Haru commented softly before raising her axe and slamming it down in line with the grain of the wood. It split in half, the smaller piece flying off in Akechi’s direction. He smoothly stepped out the way, though its trajectory didn’t quite reach him. “It’s very therapeutic.”

Their eyes met. Quick as always, Akechi seemed to be getting the hint she was trying to drop. She put the axe down and pulled on her gloves before taking a larger piece out of the pile and putting it on the cutting block.

She assessed it for a moment before readying herself and striking again. She made a sound of frustration when the blade got jammed in the wood. Trying to yank it out with just her arms didn’t do much, so she braced her foot against the block of wood in the hope the extra leverage would help.

By the time Haru managed to get her axe back, she was panting and wiping at her brow. She glanced up at Akechi, who was staring at her with a concerned expression.

“The struggle only makes it more satisfying in the end,” she explained.

She smiled inside when his expression only become even more worried. She let the axe fall, but it once again got stuck a few centimetres from the bottom of the chunk of wood. Sighing through her nose impatiently, she turned the axe sharply and let the smaller chunk fall away from the rest of the piece.

Now Haru was very much invested in breaking the rest of it into pieces.

“You think you can stop me!?” she yelled as she brought it down once more. This time there was the satisfying crack and thud of the axe landing in the chopping block. One half of the chunk fell to the floor with a thud.

Remembering Akechi was still there, Haru looked in his direction only to find he had his brows raised and was staring at the split piece of wood. She clapped her hands together and smiled, bringing his attention back to her.

“You should have a turn!”

His expression was hesitant. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, yes!” Haru insisted as she bent down to collect the stray bits of wood and put them in another pile out of the way. “Go on!” she encouraged, and finally he stepped closer to where the axe was still wedged in the stump. When she nodded, he pulled it out and held it loosely in his hand.

Haru selected a piece of wood that should be suitable for someone who hadn’t done this before, and set it on the chopping block. She hurriedly stepped back to what should be a safe distance and placement, but Akechi only looked back at her uncertainly.

Haru motioned for him to go ahead. He sighed.

Akechi raised the axe over his head, then let it fall. It landed to the right of the piece of wood and glanced off the stump. Akechi staggered along with it, looking embarrassed.

“Again!” Haru insisted. He’d get used to aiming with it quickly enough, she was sure.

Fortunately he still seemed to be willing to appease her eccentricities, and went for it a little more forcefully this time. Haru cheered when it hit, but it had fallen at a bad angle and got stuck in the wood again.

He managed to free the axe in much the same way she had, but this time he looked more determined than uncertain. He raised the axe once more.

“Put your back into it!” Haru demanded, but it seemed he didn’t need the encouragement when the wood split apart.

“I did it,” Akechi said, quietly pleased.

“Try another!” she all but ordered as she moved forward to find something more difficult. Some part of her was excited to have someone to share her hobby with, which truly was a bizarre feeling when she remembered all the things this particular person had done.

But for now, at least, all of that could be put aside.

Seeming to have abandoned his reservations, Akechi tapped his chin as he appraised the wood. He leaned side to side as if examining it from slightly different angles would help. He parted his feet and raised the axe, pausing for a moment before lashing out with an explosion of movement and sound.

He roared something that sounded suspiciously like Shido as the axe whooshed down and there were not one, but two sharp cracks before he came to a screeching halt. Akechi immediately took a shaky step back from the wood and stump he’d split apart. And, Haru saw a moment later, the tile of her balcony flooring that now had a thin crack running through the middle of it.

“H-Haru-san, I’m so sorry,” he quickly apologised between hard breaths.

Haru only laughed. When he looked up in confusion, she laughed harder, until she had to hold her stomach. Akechi slowly came to the realisation that she wasn’t mad at him, and eventually laughed a little as well. He looked back at the damage he’d done and shook his head.

Finally pulling herself together, Haru wandered over to the wood pile and moved a few pieces aside. “It’s not the first time this has happened,” she commented softly as another cracked tile came into view.

“I see.”

Haru smiled at him as she watched him carefully place the axe against the rest of the pile of wood. “Oh, I mean… Wooow, boys are strong,” she teased.

“Don’t even try it. I’ve seen you fight,” he reminded.

Haru turned away, and Morgana quickly scrambled out the way as they went back inside. She picked up the potted plant and thoughtfully looked around the space.

“I need to decide on a place to put this,” she commented once Akechi had closed the door behind him. “But don’t be concerned if I have to repot it by the time you come again, ok? It’s looking a little cramped in there.”

Akechi’s brow went up again and his mouth opened slightly. “Again?” he asked quietly.

Only then did Haru fully realise what she’d said. She quickly smiled and put the plant back down on the dining table. “You don’t expect me to make my way through my entire tea and coffee stash alone, do you?”

Akechi turned away quickly. She didn’t miss the way one of his fingers came up to rub at an eye. “That pile of wood is awfully large,” he agreed.

Haru laughed softly before making her way into the kitchen area, stroking along Morgana’s back when he jumped up onto the bench. He blinked at her slowly, and finally seemed to be convinced that she really was all right.

That most certainly did not mean everything was ok.

But, just maybe, they could get better.


End file.
